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Students' Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Teaching Listening Skills to English Foreign Language Students at Three Ethiopian Universities I.

Background he listening skill plays a decisive role in our day-today communication. Hedge (2000) found that up to 45% of one's communication time is spent on listening activities, while Chen (2011) estimates that 50% of an adult's communication consists of listening. It is thus clear that one spends much more time on listening communication activities than on the rest of the language skills (i.e., reading, writing and speaking). The fact that people spend so much time on listening, however, does not imply that they are 'good' listeners. It is rather an indication of how important it is that their listening skills should be developed and that time should be spent on the teaching of this important communication skill to ensure effective communication. The role that listening plays in the acquisition of a second or foreign language started to gain attention when the Communicative Language Teaching methodology, which emphasised the need of teaching listening for effective oral communication (Goh 2008), became popular in language teaching in the 1970s. Although much ground-breaking work on the teaching of listening in second and foreign languages has been done, it is still one of the skills that receive little attention in many classes which is a challenge for learners in the classroom and beyond (Vandergrift & Goh, 2012).

Various scholars contributed ideas about the role and importance of listening skills in language learning and teaching. Vandergrift (2003) refers to the "key role" that listening plays in current theories of second language acquisition. According to Guo and Wills (2005) language learning mainly depends on listening since it provides the aural input that serves as the basis for language acquisition and enables learners to interact in spoken communication. Moreover, it is believed that listening provides the foundation for all aspects of language learning and in this sense it plays a lifelong role in the process of communication.

As far as second language acquisition theory is concerned, Guo and Wills (2005) explain that language input is the essential condition for the acquisition of a second language. As an input skill, listening plays a crucial role in students' language development. Given the importance of listening in language learning and teaching, it is vital for language instructors to help students become effective listeners. Kristiani (2008) discusses the importance of listening skills when learning English and emphasises the fact that everyone who wants to learn English well should be able to master the listening skill as the most basic skill necessary for mastering the other skills. According to him listening is a prerequisite for understanding spoken messages and therefore the teaching of listening skills should not be neglected during English instruction (Kristiani, 2008). Vandergift and Tafaghodtari (2010) refer to the relative ease with which native (first) language speakers acquire the complex skill of listening comprehension, whereas second and foreign language learners struggle to do so. This observation emphasises the need for supporting second and foreign language learners' listening comprehension skills. Goh (2008) reports that traditional listening teaching techniques such as merely expecting learners to answer comprehension questions based on a listening passage, are still common practice in many classrooms and that this practice of language teaching may cause students to become anxious. Boyd (2001) indicates that the important concept of teaching listening skills is sometimes overlooked, while David (2002) writes that teaching listening skills is not considered by English language teachers to be taught with (i.e. integrated with) the teaching of writing, speaking and reading. Therefore, he calls listening skills "[t]he Cinderella skill in second language learning" and argues that proficiency in a second language has tended to be viewed in terms of the ability to speak and write the language in question, with listening relegated to the second position.

It can therefore be concluded that the teaching of listening skills is a critical element in language learning and communication -especially second and foreign language learning and communication -since it is the base or key to acquiring the skills of speaking, reading and writing. In spite of this it seems that it is the least considered skill in the process of language teaching and learning.

Exploration of the Problem of Listening in English as a Foreign Language in the Ethiopian Context When it comes to the practice of teaching EFL listening skills, it seems that the teaching of listening skills in particular is neglected in Ethiopian schools and higher education institutions. Studies done on listening skills and teaching of listening in the Ethiopian context revealed that students are ill equipped for listening effectively (Berhanu, 1993).

In addition to Seime's study, Berhanu (1993) carried out research to investigate the listening strategies used by fourth year Addis Ababa University students majoring in English. Since Berhanu's (1993) study was basically intended to investigate the listening strategies actually used by students, he did not indicate whether listening was actively taught in the university. What Berhanu (1993) found was that learners' listening skills were not properly developed and that there was a need to provide students with appropriate listening comprehension skills.

Likewise, Haregewoin (2003) conducted an investigation in which she focused on grade eleven students to investigate the classroom listening comprehension teaching practices in relation to the new English textbooks. In her study she found that teachers did not show any significant efforts to give pre-listening tasks or to provide students with visual support. Furthermore, it was found that the materials used to teach listening skills are inadequate in the sense that they do not express the real life of the learners. The materials in the language laboratories in higher institutions are, for example, regarded as irrelevant to the contemporary conditions of teaching listening skills, and they do not appeal to the interest of Ethiopian students (Obeidat & Abu-Melhim, 2008). Most students who study English as a foreign language at university level are not able to listen effectively in English. It is therefore necessary to do research on current listening practices in order to provide guidelines for improvement. From the above-mentioned local studies it seems that Ethiopian EFL learners have underdeveloped listening skills. It can be concluded that the teaching of English foreign language listening skills in Ethiopia is not as effective as it should be -neither in school, nor at the higher education level. In the universities where this study took place, students are often heard complaining about the inadequacy of the teaching of listening skills. Berhanu's study (2007) suggests that there is a need to provide students with appropriate listening comprehension practices. The question is how lecturers go about teaching EFL listening skills and whether students are being provided with appropriate listening comprehension practices.

In view of the preceding discussion regarding the importance of listening when communicating in a second or foreign language and for learning in a higher education institution on the one hand and the lack of proper listening instruction on the other hand, it is evident that there is a need to investigate the teaching of listening skills to English foreign language students at Ethiopian universities and to determine how they can best be taught to listen effectively. In light of the above background this research attempts to answer the following research questions.

How effective do students at selected Ethiopian universities perceive the teaching of EFL listening skills to be?

? How effective the use of material used in teaching of EFL listening skills as perceived by the students? ? Is there gender difference in the perception of the effectiveness of teaching EFL listening skills? ? The study follows a sequential explanatory mixed methods/strategy. The reason for selecting this strategy is according to Creswell, (2009); Collins, Onwuegbuzie and Jiao (2006) allows the researcher to collect quantitative data during its first phase which could then be followed by qualitative data collection through interviews and observation in a second phase.

Three universities Dilla, Hawassa and Arsi University were purposively selected. For the quantitative part of the study all first and second year students from the Language Studies Department, were requested to complete the questionnaire. In the qualitative phase of the study interview was used. Six students from each sampled university with highest Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) from first and second year students were purposively selected and interviewed.

A structured questionnaire was developed for all students involved in EFL listening courses. The questionnaires used in this study made use of a five point Likert scale in which the respondents had to choose between the following five options: 1= Highly effective; 2= Fairly effective; 3= Somewhat effective; 4=Not very effective; and 5=Ineffective. between the age of 18 to 20 (70.3%) while only 29.7% were 21 years and above. Of the 158 students, 53.8% were first years while 44.3%were second year students. In relation to the English listening ability show that about 44.3% of the students rated themselves as good or very good, 29.7% were of the opinion that their listening ability was average, while 31.3% regarded their listening ability as poor or very poor. The variation on the students' English listening ability could be related to the sample where the majority (53.8%) were first years and 44.3% were second year students.

IV.

In this section the frequency response patterns to groups of questions in the questionnaire provide an overview of students' responses to the following four components that could have an influence on the effectiveness of teaching listening in EFL: the prelistening phase, the while listening phase, the postlistening phase, and the use of listening materials.

Results presented in Table 1 and Table 2 are based on responses from ten Likert scale type items which focused on activities implemented during the prelistening phase. 1 it can be seen that although the students' overall impression of the effectiveness of the pre-listening activities they were exposed to is positive (41.40%), more than a third of the students (35.95%) indicated a degree of inefficiency. Therefore, although there is an overall positive perception, it is not a very strong vote on effectiveness. A large percentage of the responses (22.66%) were undecided. The variation on the responses could be attributed to the aggregation of data across the universities hence loss of information.

There is a small difference between a positive and negative effectiveness rating. Although the overall impression of while-listening activities is positive, it is not a very strong positive perception and is only slightly more positive than negative. This can be seen from the 40.34% effective rating responses compared to the 38.32% rather ineffective responses that were given. 21.35% of responses were undecided. Thus, although an experience of effectiveness is prevalent, the experience of an ineffective activity phase is also present.

Eight items were included in the Likert type scale items as a measure of how effective students regard activities that are usually typically performed after the listening activity. From table 3 it can be deduced that the students' overall impression of post-listening activities were positive. They perceived this phase to be effective (40.99% effective rating responses as opposed to 35.44% rather ineffective responses). Although there was an overall positive perception, it is not a very strong vote on effectiveness. Furthermore, 23.58% of responses were undecided.

The students' perceptions about the use of the effectiveness of the listening material are presented in table (Table 4). Seven items were included as a measure of how effective students regard the use of listening material to be while teaching English listening skills. 4 it can be deduced that while 39.42% of students regarded the language material used to teach listening as effective, almost the same percentage (39.14%) of ineffectiveness responses were received. 21.43% were undecided. Apart from the relatively high undecided response of 28.48%, 39.88% regarded the use of listening passages that are somewhat above students' level of understanding as not very effective or ineffective. Only 39.87% of students perceived the use of authentic listening material as either highly or fairly effective, while more than a third (33.55%) regarded it as not very effective or ineffective and 26.58% were undecided.

The measure for each component was calculated as the mean response to all responses a participant offered in answering the subset of questions that probed a particular listening component (e.g., 'listening material'). These compact perception measures are referred to as scores or perception-scores and are presented in the tables in this section. Results presented in Table 6 show the mean for students on the four components (pre-, while and post-listening as well as the listening material). The scale items are summed up for all items for each component (e.g., 10 items for pre-listening) and the weighted mean of the summated items is given. Considering a standard deviation from the mean data suggests that the practice is fairly effective based on the majority of students. The biographical property of gender also affected the perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the teaching of EFL listening. Results in Table 7 presents the score means calculated for gender categories (males and females) for the four components (pre-, while-and post-listening, and the listening material) separately. Results suggest that the males perceived the effectiveness of listening teaching differently except on the 'while-listening phase' where the mean for males was 3.24 and that of females was '3.27' which is approximately '3'. From Table 7, results for female and male students suggest that both groups perceived the effectiveness of listening teaching equally on all the components; that is, with a mean of roughly '3.00' they viewed the components to be somewhat effective. In general, it could also be suggested that both sexes rated the effectiveness of three components (pre-, and post-listening, and the listening material) as effective.

V.

An analysis of a variance (ANOVA) test offers a way of investigating the significance of the effect of biographical properties on perceptions of the efficacy of the listening course. An analysis of variance tests identifies whether, and which, biographical properties statistically significantly influence participants' perceptions of a component of the course, for instance, the effectiveness of listening materials. An indication of the significance of such a biographical effect on perceptions is derived from the P-value (F-probability) that is associated with the F-statistic (or F-value) calculated for each biographical property as part of the ANOVA test. An effect is identified as significant if the reported F probability (see Table 8) is less than 0.05 or 0.01; or 0.001 (respectively 5% ['*']; 1% ['**'] and 0.1% ['***'] significance levels). The effect of gender proved to be statistically significant effects on perceptions of the different components of the listening course evaluated for effectiveness. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with eighteen students (first and second years) on current practices used in EFL listening teaching. Students' names were coded to ensure respondents' identity was protected and confidentiality maintained and further for ease of analysis. The following coding system that has been used can be explained as follows: In the code UnAs11 refers to University A and S 11 refers to year one, student number one. If S 23 is used, it refers to year two, student number three.

During the interview sessions, students were asked to describe how lecturers prepared them for the listening activity (pre-listening phase) and whether they regarded the preparation as effective. The majority of both first and second year students from the three universities agreed that the preparation given by lecturers before a listening lesson was not adequate. For example, student UnAS 11 said that the lecturer "only talks about the topic. The preparation is not also enough as he doesn't explain well."From the same university, student UnAS 12 said that the lecturer "? writes some notes on the blackboard and reads the questions one by one and talks about them." According to the student, the lecturer"... doesn't give proper lesson, as a result the preparation is not sufficient."

Insufficiency of preparation during the prelistening phase was further echoed by student UnAS 21 who said that "the lecturer doesn't have enough knowledge himself, as a result, the preparation was not enough" while student UnAS 23 from the same university said that "... the lecturer tries to prepare us, but not as we expect." Some students referred to the difference between activities used to prepare them for listening in the classroom and the language laboratory. Student UnBS 11 stated that "... his preparation can be enough some times in the lab but not in the classroom."However, studentUnBS 11 said that"... lecturers picks up some new words and give explanation" but, according to the student the preparation was not enough because of a shortage of time that made the lecturer rush through the lesson. In general most students agreed that preparation for the listening activity was not sufficient and ineffective.

The need to prepare students by including prelistening activities is in line with research conducted by Rueda et al. (2009) who state that people always have a purpose for listening which makes it easier and more effective for them to listen. The use of pre-listening activities by lecturers supports work by Vandergrift (2013) who argues that providing second language students with a context helps in activating their prior knowledge and it also helps in developing students' conceptual framework for constructing the meaning of what they do not understand. A lack of proper preparation for the listening task will, therefore, be detrimental to the effective teaching of EFL listening.

During the interviews, students were asked to state what a typical lesson looked like during an EFL listening class. Students expressed different activities in relation to what happens in a typical EFL listening lesson. Lecturers, for example, according to student UnCS 13, may start teaching listening in the language laboratory and later ask them to work on the questions after listening. Student UnAS 12 stated that lecturers "... may read stories and ask students whether they can remember or not."

The majority of the students said that lecturers read or gave one of their fellow students a passage to read to the class and then asked them to answer questions. Student UnCS 12 for example said that the lecturer "... reads some passage and asks some questions."

Most of the students further stated that they watch videos, listen to audio tapes or native speakers' accents, and later they are asked to answer questions to see how much they could recall. For example, student UnCS 21 said that the lecturer "... used video" or "writes some words on the blackboard." Student UnBS 11 mentioned that sometimes the lecturer "... opens certain recorded cassettes and lets us listen after which we were asked to answer questions."

The findings are cause for concern if it is taken into consideration that Renandya and Farrella (2010) found that foreign language students experience a number of challenges particularly while listening to native speakers in video or audio-recorded speech. The need to use different activities in a listening lesson was also emphasised by Sun (2009) who argued that creating and imitating real-life situations during the teaching process presented students with a way to think and express what they had heard. It was also a way to help them integrate both thinking and expression.

Questionnaire data revealed that students mostly had a positive perception of the effectiveness of post-listening activities. Interview responses from students, on common activities used by lecturers during EFL listening teaching, indicated that lecturers mostly asked students to answer certain questions after a listening activity. These questions, however, mostly dealt with what students could remember after reading a story to them. For example, student UnBS 21 had this to say, "Lecturers give questions from the passage to be answered by us?." In other cases, according to student UnBS 13, lecturers asked students to read to their peers while others listen, and they encouraged them to interact with each other after they have listened to the passage. This relates to what was suggested by Goh and Taib (2009), namely that students could take turns to read aloud their notes on their reflections during the discussions while other students listened, asked questions or gave their own comments in turn.

Interview data obtained from students revealed that this phase was not done effectively. Student UnBS 23 said that "? we forget ? we do not practice since the time allocated is not enough." Many other students also commented on the lack of enough time to practice or to use strategies such as letting them reflect on what they have heard.

During the interviews students responded to questions which asked about the teaching methods and type of listening materials used during the listening sessions. In Ethiopian universities EFL listening is taught by means of both language laboratories and classroom lessons. Some of the students expressed their discontent with listening to recordings done by native speakers. This is because of the fact that the pronunciation of the materials was not as clear to them as listening passages read by the local lecturers.

The overall perception of students are in agreement about the effectiveness of the pre-listening, while listening and post listening activities and the integration of listening with other language skills. They also indicated the language material used to teach listening as effective. The biographical property of gender also affected the perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the teaching of EFL listening results for female and male students suggest that both groups perceived the effectiveness of listening teaching equally on all the components. However, male students were of the opinion that the while-listening stage was more effectively done as compared to females who evaluated the component as somewhat effective.